Woman, 90, Dies After Being Hit in Church Lot

A 90-year-old woman who was struck in a Huntington Beach church parking lot by a car driven by an 84-year-old has died, police said Thursday.

Kathy Mary Wells of Fountain Valley died Wednesday at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, police said. She and the driver, Katherine Robinson of Huntington Beach, were leaving Saints Simon and Jude Roman Catholic Church after Sunday’s Mass when the incident occurred, police said.

Wells was walking when Robinson backed her car from a parking space, striking her fellow parishioner, police said.

Wells’ brother, Bob Wells, 79, of Huntington Beach, said the family did not think the injuries were life-threatening at the time, but his sister never regained consciousness after surgery to repair a shattered femur.

“The doctors said the operation was a success,” Bob Wells said in a telephone interview Thursday, “but the burden was too much for her heart.”

He did not attend church Sunday, but his wife, Susan, accompanied his sister, an adventurous Midwest native who volunteered with the American Red Cross during World War II and loved to travel. She never married, but doted on nephews and nieces, her brother said.

She moved from San Francisco to Fountain Valley in 2001 to be closer to her brother’s family, Bob Wells said.

Robinson has not been charged, but the investigation is continuing, Huntington Beach Police Lt. Janet Perez said. Robinson was told of Wells’ death Thursday and she has “very shaken,” Perez said.

In July, an 86-year-old driver steered into the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, killing 10 and injuring 79. George Russell Weller, who told police he might have mistaken his gas pedal for the brake, has not been charged with any crime, though his driver’s license was revoked.